Door knob safety device attachment



March 19, 1963 E. H. WERLE 3,082,028

DOOR KNOB SAFETY DEVICE ATTACHMENT Filed Jan. 9; 1962 ll til luv United States Patent 3,082,028 DOOR KNOB SAFETY DEVICE ATTACHMENT Erwin H. Werle, 9 Sunset Lane, Algonquin, Ill. Filed Jan. 9, 1962, Ser. No. 165,108 Claims. (Cl. 292-1) This invention relates to a safety device attachment for preventing small children from actuating the mechanism of a door latch. More in particular this invention relates to a non-rotatable safety device attachment for preventing small children from opening latched doors.

Particularly in single-family dwellings often one or more doors therein lead to Stairways or perhaps to rooms containing articles or materials potentially dangerous to small children. Such doors are usually kept locked to prevent access to young children. However, the locking of such doors is frequently overlooked or forgotten as it requires a separate operation for either unlocking or locking thereof. As an example an adult may wish to carry a large object such as a basketful of soiled clothes to the basement. The adult under ordinary circumstances must first unlock the door and open it. Thereafter he proceeds down into the basement to deposit the basket of soiled clothes and thereafter return to lock the door. This is obviously awkward and cumbersome but the adult must under such circumstances perform accordingly for the safety of small children.

Several attempts for solving the above described problem are shown in the prior art. However the prior art shows slidable members rotatable relative to the door knob latch actuator. Operation of the latch actuator by an adult, in one form, relies upon exposed portions of the latch actuator accessible for frictional engageability by the adults hand. In another form the rotatable safety member is frictionally engageable with the actuator knob by application of sufficient manual pressure by an adult.

From the above it can be readily appreciated that the prior art safety devices are not suitable for such use unless the door latch actuator knob is smooth and circular.

The present invention overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages by providing a resilient non-rotatable axially compressible safety device which can be removably secured to a door and is not dependent upon the shape or surface characteristics of the door latch actuator. It is therefore a prime object of the present invention to provide an efiective resilient door latch actuator safety device construction of compressible and of non-rotatable character.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a safety device according to the preceding object which is mounted detachably on a door.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide a safety device according to the preceding objects which is augmented by a helical spring mounted therein.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a safety device wherein a resilient member thereof may be molded with or without inserts.

A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a safety device according to the preceding objects which is of low cost construction.

These and other important objects of the invention will become more apparent from the ensuing description of a preferred embodiment thereof, the appended claims and the attached drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the safety device of this invention showing its relation to a door latch actuator and further illustrating the hand in phantom lines of an adult about to compress the device for actuating the door latch actuator;

FIGURE 2 is an end View of the device shown in FIG- ice URE 1 also showing its relation to the door latch actuator;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view, partly broken away, taken on line 33 of FIGURE 2 showing the details of construction of the safety device of this invention and its mounted relation to the door and its latch actuator; and

FIGURE 4 is a side view, partly broken away, illustrating the safety device of this invention in its compressed form for operation of the door latch actuator by an adult.

With continued reference to the drawing it will be seen that the safety device of this invention, generally indicated at 10, comprises a generally cylindrical shaped tubular member 11. The member 11 comprises a resilient plastic element, such as rubber, preferably of bellow type construction -12 with an annular portion or ring 13' disposed on the outer portion thereof and an annular flange 14 disposed on the inner portion as shown. The member =11 may be provided with a hollow interior 15 as shown in FIGURE 3 or such hollow interior may be omitted by a solid construction. The purpose of the hollow interior 15 is to enable the attainment of resiliency, according to the properties of the plastic selected, so that the force required to move the ring 13 axially inward is greater than that which a child can apply but yet is less than an adult can conveniently apply.

As a further means for controlling the force required to move the ring 13 axially inwardly a helical spring 16 may optionally be employed in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 3. Thus several methods are shown for controlling the force required to depress the ring 13 axially from the position shown in FIGURE 3 to that of FIG- URE 4.

'It will be observed that the inner diameter 17 of the ring 13 as well as the inner diameter of the remaining portion of the tubular member 11'is greater than the maximum diametrical dimension of the door latch actuator 18 thus allowing an annular clearance therebetween. Thus the device 10 may be attached to doors having latch actuators other than of circular shape and further not necessarily smooth. At this point it should be mentioned that it is preferable to make the annular surface 19 of the ring 13 smooth to reduce friction between it and the hand skin of an adult manipulating the device 10 for unlatching the door 20 through actuation of the door latch actuator 18.

. 1 The device 10 includes an annular bracket 21 having at least two lobes 22 and 23 having holes 2'2 and 23' respectively therethrough corresponding to two lobes 24 and 25 on the annular flange '14-, The lobe 24 is provided with a bore alined with hole 22 for accommodating a screw 26 for securing the device 10 to the door 20 as shown. Likewise the lobe 25 is provided with a bore alined with hole 23 for accommodating a screw 27 for further securing the device 10 rigidly to the door 20 as illustrated. Obviously additional lobes and screws may be provided for further securing the device 10 to the door 20 as may be desired.

The bracket 21 is flat and its construction should be essentially of a non-resilient material such as brass or steel. The purpose of the bracket 21 and its associated lobes 22 and 23 is to provide a clamping effect with the lobes 24 and 25 and flange 14 with the door 20 by the screws 26 and 27. Alternately the bracket 21 may be replaced by metal washers disposed to function in the same manner as that of the lobes 22 and 23.

Obviously the resilient element 12 need not be necessarily in the form of compressible bellows as shown in the drawing. The element 1'2 may optionally be in the form of a hollow cylinder which can be deformed by axial pressure on the ring 13 applied manually. Further it is obvious that the tubular member 11 can be molded by conventional means including the insertion of the helical spring 16.

The device is mounted over the door knob or latch actuator 18 of a conventional latch mechanism (not shown) as shown in the drawing and described above. In operation an adult merely applies an axial pressure or force against the ring 13 compressing it to the position shown in FIGURE 4. This operation exposes the latch actuator 18 for gripping thereof by the adults hand whereby the actuator may be rotated normally for actuating the latch and thus open the door 20. However, a child cannot rotate the element '12 nor compress it due to insuflicient force. Further, no portion of the device 10 is in engagement with the actuator 18. Thus a child may not actuate the latching mechanism of the door 20 and hence unable to open it. Further it will be noted that when an adult withdraws his hand from the actuator 18, the device 10, due to the resiliency of the element 12, automatically returns from the position shown in FIG- URE 4 to the position illustrated in FIGURE 1.

Having thus described preferred embodiments of the invention it can now be seen that the objects of the invention have been fully achieved and it should be understood that modifications may be made therefrom which do not depart the spirit of the invention nor from the scope thereof as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A safety device for preventing small children from actuating the latch mechanism actuator on a door comprising a resiliently deformable tubular member positioned coaxially with respect to said actuator, said member having a flange disposed on one end thereof in abutting relation to said door, a rigid bracket secured to said door in clamping relation with said flange, said member extending outwardly in spaced concentric relation to said actuator, said member having an annular ring portion disposed on the other end thereof, and a compressible bellows portion of said member disposed between said ring portion and said flange having a helical spring therein positioned for yield-ably urging said ring portion outwardly whereby axial inward thrust force of predetermined magnitude manually applied to said ring portion compresses said bellows portion to expose said actuator sufliciently for manual frictional engagement thereof to actuate said latch mechanism for opening said door.

2. A safety device for preventing small children from actuating the latch mechanism actuator on a door comprising a resiliently deformable tubular member positioned coaxially with respect to said actuator, said member having a flange disposed on one end thereof in abutting relation to said door, means for securing said flange rigidly to said door, said member extending outwardly in spaced concentric relation to said actuator, said member having an annular ring portion disposed on the other end thereof, and a compressible bellows portion of said member disposed between said ring portion and said flange having a helical spring therein positioned for yieldably urging said ring portion outwardly whereby axial inward thrust force of predetermined magnitude manually applied to said ring portion compresses said bellows portion to expose said actuator sufliciently for manual frictional engagement thereof to actuate said latch mechanism for opening said door.

3. A safety device for preventing small children from actuating the latch mechanism actuator on a door comprising a resiliently deformable tubular member positioned coaxially with respect to said actuator, said member having a flange disposed on one end thereof in abutting relation to said door, means for securing said flange rigidly to said door, said member having an annular ring portion disposed on the other end thereof, and a compressible bellows portion of said member disposed between said ring portion and said flange yieldably urging said ring portion outwardly whereby axial inward thrust force of predetermined magnitude manually applied to said ring portion compresses said bellows portion to expose said actuator sufliciently for manual frictional engagement thereof to actuate said latch mechanism for opening said'door.

4. A safety device for preventing small children from actuating the latch mechanism actuator on a door comprising a resiliently deformable tubular member positioned coaxially in concentric spaced relation with respect to said actuator, said member having a flange disposed on one end thereof in abutting relation to said door, means for securing said flange rigidly to said door, said member having an annular ring portion disposed on the other end thereof, said member having a resilient portion disposed between said ring portion and said flange for yieldably urging said ring portion outwardly whereby axial inward thrust force of predetermined magnitude manually applied to said ring portion deforms said resilient portion to expose said actuator sulficiently for manual frictional engagement thereof to actuate said latch mechanism for opening said door.

5. A safety device for preventing small children from actuating the latch mechanism actuator on a door comprising a resiliently deformable tubular member positioned coaxially wit-h respect to said actuator, means for securing one end of said member rigidly to said door, said member having an annular ring portion disposed on the other end thereof, said member having a resilient portion disposed between said ring portion and said securing means for yieldably urging said ring portion outwardly whereby axial inward thrust force of predetermined magnitude manually applied to said ring portion deforms said resilient portion to expose said actuator sufficiently for manual frictional engagement thereof to actuate said latch mechanism for opening said door.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,587,285 Broscoe Feb. 26, 1952 2,781,220 Zietlow Feb. 12, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 124,588 Sweden Apr. 5, 1949 

5. A SAFETY DEVICE FOR PREVENTING SMALL CHILDREN FROM ACTUATING THE LATCH MECHANISM ACTUATOR ON A DOOR COMPRISING A RESILIENTLY DEFORMABLE TUBULAR MEMBER POSITIONED COAXIALLY WITH RESPECT TO SAID ACTUATOR, MEANS FOR SECURING ONE END OF SAID MEMBER RIGIDLY TO SAID DOOR, SAID MEMBER HAVING AN ANNULAR RING PORTION DISPOSED ON THE OTHER END THEREOF, SAID MEMBER HAVING A RESILIENT PORTION DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID RING PORTION AND SAID SECURING MEANS FOR YIELDABLY URGING SAID RING PORTION OUTWARDLY WHEREBY AXIAL INWARD THRUST FORCE OF PREDETERMINED MAGNITUDE MANUALLY APPLIED TO SAID RING PORTION DEFORMS SAID RESILIENT PORTION TO EXPOSE SAID ACTUATOR SUFFICIENTLY FOR MANUAL FRICTIONAL ENGAGEMENT THEREOF TO ACTUATE SAID LATCH MECHANISM FOR OPENING SAID DOOR. 